Dale Steyn says the leadership combination of Ray Jennings and Kevin Pietersen will prove to be a successful one for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Much has been made of the cool relationship between Jennings and Pietersen, but Steyn is confident the duo can improve on the Royal Challengers’ lowly seventh place finish in 2008.

He said Jennings’ no-nonsense approach would suit the side perfectly, and added that Pietersen would inspire his team through his performances.

‘He [Pietersen] leads from the front always. That is a great strength of his,’ Steyn said.

‘[Jennings] is capable of turning teams that have nothing into something fantastic. He is really good at it. I remember him taking Eastern province [in 2001], who were an almost nothing team, to winning the SuperSport series, the four-day championship, one of the most difficult competitions to win.’

Asked what he thought of the temperamental Pietersen Steyn said: ‘I don’t know him at all. I have played against him but I still don’t know what kind of a man he is, what kind of mood swings he has, but it is going to be interesting and we are going to have to find our feet quickly.’

Steyn said the presence of four South Africans in the Bangalore squad (Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Roelof van der Merwe and Steyn) would be beneficial to the Royal Challengers.

‘We have been playing well and we definitely know the conditions a hell of a lot better in our own country,’ he said. ‘Even if the four international players cannot be all from South Africa in an IPL game, you are going to get a lot of advice from the local players. It can only help to get the extra bit of advice.’